For instance, the knowledge of the causal power of scammony to purge red bile arises only after we observe a number of cases where it does this, and so come to form an aestimatio that it does in this or that particular case.

When he says that hops purges choler, he doesn't mean in the same way as scammony does.

Origin

Old English, from Old Frenchescamonie or Latinscammonia, from Greek skammōnia.